Lampposts
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
People assume that lampposts are inanimate objects that light up public streets, but this is not quite true. Lampposts are much more than that. Although not strictly living, they do display life-like tendancies. An example of which is their habit of going out when people are under them - which cannot logically be explained, but yet happens nonetheless.
Lampposts can greatly effect the mood of someplace. A nice shaped lamp-post can give a place a romantic setting, whilst a dull, grey lamp-post brings down the place's atmosphere. The strength of the bulb can also have an influence - on a quiet street, a strong light can make you feel safe, whilst a weak light or no light at all from a lamp-post makes you feel endangered. The effect is that where you go at night and how you feel about those places is directly related to the number of lamp-posts there, and the amount of light they shed.
Lampposts so far have been ignored by modern society, and their history is fairly short. In Britain, the first lampposts were simple bonfires on sticks, and were used succesfully as a warning for when the Spanish Armada was sighted. In Victorian times, lampposts were gas-powered, and they employed someone to light the lamps each day. Since then, lampposts have had two moments of glory, one in C.S. Lewis's "The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe", but more recently for being the centre of attention in the "Madness" song "Lovestruck".
The habit of lampposts to go out when people are under them is a curious one. Some believe it to be the work of Pixies, Gnomes & Gremlins but this is oversimplified. The truth remains, though, that lamp-posts do have a habit of targeting certain people, and go out on them - and this hasn't been fully explained.
